Box-counter.



PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1903.

H. a. ROTH. BOX COUNTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 1903.

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UNlTED STATES Patented September 1, 1963.

HENRY G. ROTH, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA;

BOX-COUNTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,777, dated September 1, 1903.

Application filed May 4,1903. Serial No. 155,489. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY G. ROTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Box Counters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relates particularly to box-counters-that is, to counters having receptacles for containing articles of merchandise to be sold-such, for instance, as coffee, tea, crackers, &c.; and the object of the invention is to improve the construction of such counters or receptacles in the several particulars hereinafter noted.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing a counter designedin accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on the line a m of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line m m of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away. Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the counter on the line 00 00" of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a detail in section on the line 06 m of Fig. 4, some parts being broken away.

The counter shown in the drawings is made up of a main body portion 1, which is divided into compartments by laterally-spaced partition-plates 2. The top plate 3, front plate 4,

and end plate 5 are preferably of glass, which exposes to the viewof the purchaser on the outer side of the counter the goods contained within the compartments of the counter. The bottom portions of the compartments of the counter are semicylindrical, as indicated at 6, and at its inside and upper portion the counter is dropped abruptly downward, so as to afford a sunken counter 7, upon which the salesman may place various articles, where they will be more or less hidden from the view of the customers on the outer side of the counter. This sunken section 7 of the COUHE ter affords a drop-door, which is hinged at 8 to a transverse horizontal bar 9 of the counter section or compartment. Another hinged door 10 for each counter-section is placed in the vertical wall of the elevated portion of the counter and is hinged at 11 to the bar 9 thereof, as best shown in Fig. 2. The door 10 is opened by moving it pivotally downward on top of the door 7, while the said door 7 is opened by moving it pivotally upward against the said door 10. By the manipulation of these doors the salesman is afiorded easy access both to the front and rear portions of the compartments of the counter.

Mounted in suitable bearin gs on the sides of each compartment of the counter and can tending coincident with the axis of the compartment-bottom 6 is a short rock-shaft 12, to which is rigidly secured a radially-extended blade 13, which constitutes a false bottom or follower for the compartment and operates as presently more fully described. The unmeral 14. indicates a secondary false bottom which in dimensions is approximately the same as the blade or primary false bottom 13. This secondary false bottom 14 is, as shown, provided with bearing-hooks 15, which pivotally support the same from the shaft 12, and at its free edge .it is provided with perforated lugs 16, through which and seats 17 in the sides of the compartment pins or bolts may be passed to securely hold the said plate or secondary bottom 14 wherever set. The lefthand ends of all of the shafts 12, except the one at the extreme left, terminate in the spaces between the double walls 2 of the compartments, while the lefthand end of the shaft at the extreme left terminates within an inclosed space in the extreme left-hand end of the case. These projecting ends of the several shafts 12 are provided with ratchetwheels 18, with which cooperate retainingpawls 19, suitably mounted on the adjacent sides of the case-compartments. The retain- Loosely pivoted -ratchet 18.

bottom 13, which may be adjusted from time to time so as to keep the body of coffee or other commodity elevated within plain sight of customers. on the outside of the counter. It is also desirable to keep the coffee or other material thus elevated in order that it may be more easily reached by the salesman and,

further, in order that the salesman may scoop up the coffee or other commodity from a point within plain sight of the purchaser.

It is important here to note that the socalled sunken section of the counter,which includes the cross-bar 11, stands completely out of the path of movement of the adjustable bottom or follower 13. This is important for several reasons, among which I may mention the fact that after the false bottom or follower 13 has been moved upward at the forward side of the counter the rear portion of the compartment'may be more or less filled with the coffee or other commodity, and the material thus deposited may thereafter be taken up and lifted by the said bottom or follower 13 when the latter has been moved pivotally upward and then again downward, so as to come in back of the same. To accomplish this movement of the said bottom or follower 13, it is of course necessary to first remove the secondarybottom or follower 14, and this, as is evident, may be easily accomplished, since the bearing-hooks 15 but loosely engage the cooperating shaft 12. Under the above-noted movement of the bottom or follower 13 in a constant direction the older coffee within the compartment will be continuously raised and disposed of, and the coffee or material deposited in the back of the compartment will be next taken up and elevated or raised at the front of the counter. In this way an accumulation of old stock or material within the compartment is prevented. When the secondary false bottom or follower 14 is turnedback into a horizontal position or nearly to such a position, the coffee or other material lifted by the bottom or follower 13 may be spread out over the former toany desired depth, so that the coffee may be very conveniently reached by the,

upward nearly or quite into line with the bar 11, the two followers 13 and 14 separate the compartment of the counter into front and rear sections, into the former of which access is had through the opening closed by the door 10 and intothe latter of which access is had through the opening closed by the door 7. With the follower or bottom 14 adjusted as just described the coffee or other commodity may by the proper adjustments of the primary bottom or follower 13 be elevated a considerable distance into the contracted upper portions of the counter-compartment.

What I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

1. The combination with a compartment for containing coffee or other material, of a pivotally-adjustable false bottom or follower working therein, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a compartment for coffee or other material, the same having a semicylindrical bottom, of a pivotally-adjustable false bottom or follower working therein and free for continuous rotation, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a counter having a compartment formed with a semicylindrical bottom and with an elevated portion having transparent panes, of a pivotally-adjustable follower or false bottom working therein, to elevate the material, and a secondary false bottom or follower in the said compartment, having a pivotal adjustment which is independent of that of said primary follower or bottom, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a counter having a compartment formed with a depressed section and a transverse bar 9, of the reverselyopening doors '7 and 10 hinged to said bar 9 and affording communication to said compartment, respectively, through the horizontal and vertical portions of said depressed section, and a pivotally-adjustable follower or false bottom movable to and from radial alinement with said bar 9, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a compartment having a transparent upper portion, of a movable false bottom or follower working in said compartment, for keeping the material contained in the compartment elevated into the transparent section of the said compartment, substantially as described.

6. The combination with a compartment for coffee or other material, of a pivotallyadjustable false bottom or follower working therein, of a ratchet-wheel on the shaft of said bottom or follower, a retainingpawl acting on said ratchet-wheel to hold said false bottom or follower, and a pivoted pawlequipped lever for action on said ratchetwheel, to adjust said false bottom or follower, substantially as described.

7. A counter provided with a transparent outer and upper section and with a depressed upper and inner portion having openings through its vertical and horizontal walls, and partitions dividing the said compartment into front and rear sections, into the former of which access is had through the opening in the vertical wall of said depressed section, and into the latter of which access is bad through the horizontal wall of said section, substantially as described. 10

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY G. ROTH.

Witnesses:

ELIZABETH I-I. KELIHER, F. D. MERCHANT. 

